The present disclosure relates to a housing, preferably of a valve having rounded channel portions according to the description below.
In housings of components which are under hydraulic/pneumatic pressure, such as, for example, valves, there are generally formed pressure channels which can be opened and closed by means of valve coils or similar closure members. To this end, the closure members are displaceably accommodated in closure member chambers (valve bores) in which the pressure channels open. The opening locations form, during operation of the component, regions of high material stress in the housing and therefore constitute danger locations in principle for material fracture.
From the prior art, it is therefore known to construct the opening location of a pressure channel, for example, in the valve piston chamber (valve bore) of a sliding valve in such a manner that a peripheral groove in the housing is formed within the valve piston chamber in the operating range of a control edge of the valve piston and is connected to a fluid channel. However, the peripheral groove is not formed in an angular manner, but instead “rounded”. That is to say that the peripheral groove assumes a semi-circular form in its cross-section (transversely relative to the peripheral direction), preferably having a radius=½ channel width, and has a constant radius over the entire periphery in cross-section. A notch effect in the region of the peripheral groove can thereby be reduced and consequently the durability of the component housing as a whole can be increased.
It should be noted at this point, however, that housings of mass-produced hydraulic components are generally in the form of a cast member, produced from a grey iron or an aluminum alloy, the materials used for this purpose having different properties of durability. Often, the compression strength and consequently the compression threshold strength are, for material reasons, considerably higher than the tensile strength and consequently the tensile threshold strength. Detailed tests by the Applicant of this disclosure have shown that in housings of the above-described type, in the region of the peripheral grooves during operation both tensile and compression loads occur simultaneously at different locations in the housing material, the maximum load of the housing reaching its limit in accordance with the material used in the tension-loaded region far more quickly than in the pressure-loaded region.
In view of these technical recognitions, the object of the disclosure is to develop the housing of a hydraulically/pneumatically pressure-loaded component in such a manner that the general hydraulic/pneumatic compression strength thereof can be increased without increasing the outer dimensions or housing wall thicknesses thereof. Furthermore, a method for producing such a housing is intended to be provided.